Welting



Oct. 29, 1940. C Z 2,219,947

WELTING Filed June 8, 1940 Patented Oct. 29, 1940 UNITED STATES WELTINGWilliam C. Vizard, Brockton, Masa, assignor to Barbour welting Company,Brockton, Mass., a

co-partnership Application June 8, 1940, Serial No. 339,501

8 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoe welting and moreespecially to two unit welting of the type adapted to give a heavy edge"effect to the shoe in which it is used.

Two unit welting, of the general type to which the invention relates, isused in shoes, especially Goodyear welt shoes having a single outersole, to simulate the appearance and to obtain many of the advantages ofshoes wherein the heavy edge effect is obtained through the use ofmidsoles. In the manufacture of two unit welting two fillets or units ofwelting leather are cemented together, one on top of the other, theinner marginal or sewing edge of the welting thus formed being reducedin thickness so that it may have a suitable size and degree offlexibility to enable it to be tightly sewed in an inseam. In order thatboth units of the welting may be anchored in the inseam, as well as toform an inwardly facing shoulder on the top unit which may fit againstthe upper of a shoe so that the latter may have the appearance of adouble soled shoe, the preferred practice heretofore has been toundercut the top unit at its inner marginal edge to form an internalshoulder and a fiap, the fiap being folded or pressed downwardly to belaid against the shoulder and the inner margin of the bottom unit, theinsteam stitches passing through the flap and the inner margin of thebottom unit when the welting is assembled in a shoe.

I have found that with types of welt constructions such as thatdescribed above it is generally impossible to fit the shoulders againstthe uppers of shoes so as to prevent the welts from gaping or having theappearance of gaping from the uppers. This gaping efiect is due to thefact that the upper surface of the top unit, as well as the flap, isgenerally of grain leatherand it is impossible to fold the flapsdownwardly without leaving a rounded upper comer on the shoulder whichrounded corner cannot be fitted tightly aaginst the upper. One of themore general objects of the present invention is to bring about a formof two unit welting wherein both units may be tightly sewed in an inseamand wherein a shoulder is formed on the inner margin of the top unitwhich shoulder, including the upper corner thereof, may befittedtightlyagainst the upper of a shoe. Y

A feature of the invention resides in a formof two unit welting whereinthe top unit is provided with a relatively thin inseam edge joined tothe unit at an inwardly facing flesh shoulder having a full upper cornerwhich may be fitted tightly against the upper of a shoe and one of thefurther objects of the invention is to bring about a method of,manufacture of such welting wherein the same may be made from a minimumamount of stock.

To these and other ends the invention resides in the novel features andcombinations of parts to be more fully described hereinafter.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrative of the bottom unit of thetwo unit welting of the invention in its preferred form;

Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrative of the improved weltingduring an intermediate stage in the construction thereof;

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the improved welting in completedform ready for use in the manufacture of shoes, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a shoe partly in section and showingthe improved welting embodied therein.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing,the bottom unit is shown in Figure 1 ready for assembly with the topunit and those skilled in the art will recognize, that as shown thebottom unit Ill takes theiform, of a standard strand of Goodyear weltingwherein 1 the inner margin or sewing edge is beveled as at, H, the underor flesh side being grooved at l2; for the inseam stitches. Except forits'beveled' edge H and the groove l2 the unit I0 is of urn: formthickness from edge to edge and has a width depending on and determiningthe width of the.

finished strand of two unit welting to be made therefrom.

The upper face l3 of the unit I!) will vary in width'in accordance withthe amount of extension desired in the finished shoe and determines thewidth of the top unit l4 which normally should have a suflicient widthto extend from the upper comer 1'5 of the bevel II to the outer marginaledge It of the'bottom unit. The top unit I4 is formed from a plainsquare edged fillet having usually an'upper grain face l1 and a lowerfiesh face l8, the latter being bonded'by cement or the like to theupper face l3 of the bottom unit [0. i

In accordance with the invention an incision I9 is formed in the upperface ll of the unit I4 closely adjacent the inner marginal-edge '20 ofsaid unit, the cut forming the incision extend:

ing longitudinally of the unit and downwardly at a slight angle towardsthe inner marginal edge thereofand terminating just above the bottomface IS. The incision l9 forms an inseam lip' 2| which, it will beobserved, is somewhat thicker at its upper end than where it joins theunit I4.

The inseam lip may be formed either before or after assembly andcementing of the top unit on the bottom unit, in either case care beingtaken to lay the top unit on the upper face I3 of the bottom unit withthe outer marginal edges of the units flush, the inner marginal edge ofthe top unit being flush with the corner I5 of the bevel II in whichcondition the welting is ready for laying of the inseam lip and is shownmore particularly in Figure 2 of the drawing.

The welting is brought into completed condition, as shown in Figure 3,by pressing the inseam lip 2| downwardly and outwardly into contact withthe bevel I I of the bottom unit, the bevel I I and the marginal edge 20of the lip having first been coated with cement or the like. Thisoperation may be accomplished by rollers or suitably shaped molds, therelatively thin portion of the lip 2|, where the latter joins the unitI4, acting as a hinge about which the lip as a whole is swung to be laidagainst the bevel I I. It will be observed that when the lip H isbrought into final position, its end 22 is flush with the inner marginaledge 23 of the bottom unit. Preferably a bevel 24 is formed on the innermarginal or sewing edge of the lip 2I which bevel may be formed bycrushing the edge of the lip downwardly into beveled condition as thelip is laid on the inner margin or bevel of the bottom unit or the bevel24 may be formed thereafter by cutting away the edge of the welting atthis point. The use of a bevel on the sewing edge of the finishedwelting will enable the latter to be fitted against the lip 25 of aninner sole (Figure 4) in the usual manner of Goodyear welting.

As described above, the width of the fillet from which the top unit ofthe welting is formed will vary in accordance with the amount ofextension desired in the finished shoe. In the case of welting the topunit will normally have a width of the inseam lip 2I having a width ofat its upper edge, the cut forming the lip extending downwardly andoutwardly to a point A from the bottom face of the unit and A from itsinner marginal edge. The height of the lip before folding thereof will,of course, vary with the thickness of the stock used but in any case, ifboth bottom and top units are made of stock having the same thickness,the lip when formed as above described will be of sumcient length to becapable of being pressed outwardly on to the bevel of the bottom unit tothe marginal edge of the latter.

In Figure 4 of the drawing the two unit welting Inasmuch as the twounits are bonded together the welting may be handled as one piece by thewelt'sewing machine operator. The bevel 24 enables the sewing edge ofthe welting to be fitted into the corner at the lip 25 of the inner sole26 and, since the inseam lip 2I is relatively thin, the inner margin ofthe welting may be bent in usual manner by the operator or otherwiseforced into a tight fit in said corner, the inseam stitches 21 passingthrough both units, thus anchoring them together in the inseam anddrawing the shoulder 28 at the inner side of the top unit tightlyagainst the upper 29. No difllculty will beexperienced in obtaining atight fit between the shoulder 28 and the upper 2! inasmuch as theshoulder 28 presents a flesh face to the upper, the soft loose fibers ofwhich may be compressed against and welting are rimmed in usual manner,the bottom of the shoe filled and the outer sole 30 laid, the

outseam stitches 3| serving to further secure the units of the weltingtogether while attaching the outer sole thereto.

Those skilled in the art will readily vary the dimensions of the top andbottom units to suit the particular needs of a manufacturer. In any (acase a minimum amount of stock may be used as there is no waste ofmaterial in either unit, the method of forming the top unit not onlyleaving a flesh shoulder having the advantages described above butproviding an inseam sewing lip thereon from a relatively narrow filletof stock.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention is described herein indetail so that those skilled in the art may fully understand the natureof the same it will be understood that the invention is capable ofvariation and modification and is only to be limited by the scope of theappended claims.

What I claim is:

1'. Two unit welting comprising a bottom unit and a top unit, the topunit having an inwardly facing flesh shoulder at the inner edge of thewelt extension and a flap joined to said top unit at the bottom of theshoulder and applied to the inner margin of the bottom unit.

2. Two unit welting comprising a bottom unit and a top unit, the topunit having a longitudinal incision in its upper face adjacent the innermargin thereof, the flap formed by the incision at the inner margin ofthe top unit being folded downwardly and applied to the inner margin ofthe bottom unit.

3. Two unit welting comprising a bottom unit and a top unit, the innermarginal edge of the bottom unit being beveled, the top unit having aninwardly facing flesh shoulder forming the inner edge of the weltextension and a flap joined to said top unit at the bottom of theshoulder and applied to the beveled inner margin of the bottom unit.

4. Two unit welting comprising a bottom unit having a stitch-receivinggroove and a top unit having an inwardly facing flesh shoulder above thegroove and an integral flap joined thereto at the bottom of the shoulderand secured to the inner margin of the bottom unit.

5. Two unit welting comprising a bottom unit having a stitch-receivinggroove in its bottom face and a beveled inner marginal edge and a topunit having an inwardly facing flesh shoulder above the groove and anintegral flap joined thereto at the bottom of the shoulder and securedto the inner beveled marginal edge of the bottom unit.

6. .The method of making two unit welting which comprises forming abottom unit strip having a stitch receiving groove at its inner marginat its under side, forming a top unit of less width than the bottom unitand having a longitudinal incision adjacent its inner margin forming anupstanding lip, superposing said units with their outer edges flush andfolding the lip down into contact with the margin of the bottom at thein-, ner edge thereof.

7. The method of forming two unit leather welting which comprisesforming a bottom unit strip, forming a top unit strip of initially lesswidth than the bottom unit strip and having a longitudinal incisionadjacent its inner margin, the cut forming the incision extendingdownwardly and outwardly towards the inner bottom edge of said top unit,superposing the units with their outer edges flush and folding the lipformed at the inner margin of the top unit by the incision downwardlyand outwardly into contact with the inner margin of the bottom unit.

8. The method according to claim '7 in which a bevel is formed on theinner margin of the bottom unit and the lip of the top unit is foldeddownwardly and outwardly into contact with the bevel.

WILLIAM C. VIZARD.

